28 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



enterprising fisherman can be assured of as great 

 economic stability as is possible in the business 

 he follows. The most modern and efficient meth- 

 ods of capture could be employed and restrictions 

 relaxed, with a resulting decrease in the cost of 

 production and a more dejjendable profit margin. 

 Without control over the number of licenses issued 

 we can look forward to further legally imposed 

 inefficiency of operation and a continuation of eco- 

 nomic instability. 



The preceding paragraphs offer a most sketchy 

 treatment of a highly intricate problem ; however, 

 the purpose of this discussion is not to undertake a 

 critical analysis of problems of regulation, but 

 merely to point out that economic as well as bio- 

 logical considerations must enter into the framing 

 of a sound program for the utilization of the 

 fishery resources. 18 



SUMMARY 



In 1885, the first year for which we have pro- 

 duction statistics for the commercial fisheries of 

 the State of Michigan waters of Green Bay, lake 

 herring made up 972,000 pounds, or 39.7 percent, 

 of the total catch of 2,449,000 pounds. Other im- 

 portant species taken were whitefish (31.0 per- 

 cent), lake trout (16.5 percent), and sturgeon (5.3 

 percent). 



The dominance of lake herring in the catch was 

 much stronger in 1891-1908, the next period for 

 which there are production records. During that 

 period lake herring contributed from 71.6 per- 

 cent (1905) to 90.6 percent (1899) of the catch in 

 the individual years and had an average take of 

 5,841,000 pounds or 82.4 percent of the average 

 annual total of 7,085,000 pounds for all species. 

 The mean annual catch and the percentage contri- 

 bution to the total 1891-1908 production for other 

 important species were : Suckers — 398,000 pounds, 

 5.6 percent; lake trout — 213,000 pounds, 3.0 per- 

 cent ; walleyes — 197,000 pounds, 2.8 percent ; white- 

 fish — 159,000 pounds, 2.3 percent ; yellow perch — 

 157,000 pounds, 2.2 percent. Despite certain ir- 

 regularities and possibly some cyclic fluctuations 



18 Higgins (1938) pointed out certain economic problems in the 

 management of marine fisheries. Nesbit (1943) discussed the 

 question of control of fishing pressure through limitation of the 

 number of licenses. Taylor, et al. (1951) made an exhaustive 

 analysis of the economics of fisheries. 



the trends of production in 1891-1908 were de- 

 cidedly upward for all leading species except wall- 

 eyes (which were taken in greater quantities in the 

 early than in the late years of the period). The 

 total output (all species) rose from 2.1 million 

 pounds in 1891 to 3.8 million pounds in 1893, 

 dropped to 2.5 million pounds in 1894, and then 

 started on an upward trend that culminated in a 

 take of 10.6 million pounds in 1899. From this 

 high value the catch fell to 6.2 million pounds in 

 1901, rose (with an irregularity in 1903) to 10.3 

 million pounds in 1904, dropped suddenly to 7.4 

 million pounds in 1905, and finally entered on a 

 period of increase that led to the 18-year maxi- 

 mum — in fact, the all-time recorded high — of 13.7 

 million pounds in 1908. The fluctuations in total 

 yield followed closely those of the dominant lake 

 herring. 



Records of production in State of Michigan 

 waters of Green Bay are lacking for 1909-28. 

 When the tabulation of these statistics was re- 

 sumed in 1929 the species composition of the stock 

 and the level of take had changed markedly. The 

 mean annual yields of the principal species in 

 1929-49 and their percentage contributions to 

 average annual total of 3,582,000 pounds were: 

 Lake herring — 1,070,000 pounds, 29.9 percent; 

 whitefish — 714,000 pounds, 19.9 percent; white 

 and redhorse suckers — 699,000 pounds, 19.5 per- 

 cent; smelt (an introduced species) — 624,000 

 pounds, 17.4 percent; yellow perch — 150,000 

 pounds, 4.2 percent; walleyes — 133,000 pounds, 

 3.7 percent; lake trout — 126,000 pounds, 3.5 per- 

 cent. 



The 1929-49 fluctuations in production were 

 large for all principal species and tended to be 

 cyclic in some. The ranges in the annual take 

 were: Lake herring— 160,000 to 2,668,000 pounds; 

 whitefish— 90,000 to 3,066,000 pounds; smelt— nil 

 (no reported commercial catch of this introduced 

 species before 1931) to 2,976,000 pounds; white 

 and redhorse suckers— 393,000 to 1,181,000 pounds ; 

 yellow perch-49,000 to 361,000 pounds; wall- 

 eyes— 16,000 to 1,063,000 pounds; lake trout^- 

 1 1,000 to 248,000 pounds. These wide fluctuations 

 together with differences in their timing from 

 species to species led to dominance of the total 

 catch first by one variety and then by another. 

 Because of tendencies toward periodicity, domi- 



